Tag Archives: moses

Episode 25.1 is here!

Posted on by
Reply

We really shouldn’t be making light of plagues these days, but that’s where OMGWTFBIBLE is up to in the Torah, so we don’t really have a choice. This month, meet Rishe Groner, an Australian with a Chabad background and more knowledge about the Torah than David Tuchman or Rashi or God or your Hebrew school teacher could’ve expected.

The third portion of Exodus, which we call “Come,” kicks off with a plague of very annoying insects. But first, Rishe tells us how much of a whirlwind the past month has been. And David invents a Simchat Torah-appropriate parody song on the spot. Listen to it all above!

This episode was recorded at Beauty Bar in New York City.

There are so many ways to listen to Episode 25.1!

You can listen using the SoundCloud thingie above, by downloading here, or on Jewcy here. Explore our SoundCloud and listen to past episodes here.

You can also: subscribe in iTunes, subscribe via RSS, or listen via Stitcher!

Episode 24.4 is here!

Posted on by
Reply

First of all, I need to apologize. For some crazy reason, I thought these were being cross-posted automatically as the episodes were released online. It turns out they weren’t! That won’t happen again, I assure you. So this is part 4 of OMGWTFBIBLE, episode 24! This time around, Y-Love and me finish up Parshat Va’era, the second portion in Exodus, and share our thoughts on the reading.

What does Y-Love think of Moshe’s journey? Can he sum up everything into a singleword? Check it all out above!

Note: Y-Love sang at the live show. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to record his music well enough to share online, so it’s been editing out of the podcast. All the more reason to come to the live show. You never know what you’ll miss!

And if you want to catch up on the first 3 parts of Episode 24, check out the episode page or listen here:



This episode was recorded at Beauty Bar in New York City.

There are so many ways to listen to Episode 24.4!

You can listen using the SoundCloud thingie above, by downloading here, or on Jewcy here. Explore our SoundCloud and listen to past episodes here.

You can also: subscribe in iTunes, subscribe via RSS, or listen via Stitcher!

Episode 23.3 is here!

Posted on by
1

Part 3 of Episode 23 is here!  This week, I read even more Bible with Mordechai Levovitz of Jewish Queer Youth, and we cover a number of pressing questions, like: What exactly is Moses’s relationship with Yitro? What does God do when nobody’s around? And why is he so long-winded?

Find out above in this week’s installment, in which Moses is called to SAVE. HIS. PEOPLE.

Also, discover how the Bible inspired Groot.

This episode was recorded at Beauty Bar in New York City.

There are so many ways to listen to Episode 23.3!

You can listen using the SoundCloud thingie above, by downloading here, or on Jewcy here. Explore our SoundCloud and listen to past episodes here.

You can also: subscribe in iTunes, subscribe via RSS, or listen via Stitcher!

Episode 23.2 is here!

Posted on by
1

Every time I think about this I confuse myself. In Hebrew, the book of Exodus is called “Shmot”. That translates to “Names” in English. The first portion of Shmot is also called Shmot. So, for my purposes, episode 23 covers Names, the first portion of the book Names. Got it? Good!

Anyway, this is the second installment of episode 23. This time around, me and Mordechai really get into the story, mocking Paraoh’s deviousness and Rashi’s imaginary French accent.

This episode was recorded at Beauty Bar in New York City.

There are so many ways to listen to Episode 23.2!

You can listen using the SoundCloud thingie above or by downloading here. Explore our SoundCloud and listen to past episodes here.

You can also: subscribe in iTunes, subscribe via RSS, or listen via Stitcher!

OMGWTFBIBLE Goes Weekly!

Posted on by
1

Exodus begins! And I call it “Names!”

But wait? What’s that? 23.1? Why the decimal? For now on, I’ll be recording an entire Torah portion, or “parsha”, as the Jews call it, each month at one big live show. Then, the very long show will be released as four-part episodes over the course of the month, making this a weekly show!

This episode was recorded at Beauty Bar in New York City.

There are so many ways to listen to Episode 23.1!

You can listen using the SoundCloud thingie above or by downloading here. Explore our SoundCloud and listen to past episodes here.

You can also: subscribe in iTunes, subscribe via RSS, or listen via Stitcher!

Do the Coen Brothers Believe in God?

Posted on by
Reply

Growing up in a religious Jewish community, I always had a special affinity for the films of the Coen brothers. Their cheeky humor was appealed to my cynical side and the whispers I heard that they’d grown up Orthodox made me feel an unearned kinship with them. Seeing Walter Sobchak on screen was a formative experience for a generation of Sabbath-observing Jews. As I got older and a little brighter, I started to notice the murky moral waters in which their films swam and my appreciation for them deepened.

Throughout their films, the Coens grapple with the struggles between good and evil, the impact of luck and fate on our lives, and the concept of a creator running it all. Matt Zoller Seitz spoke with film critic Jeffrey Overstreet in Indiewire last month about the representation of religion in the worlds of the Coens:

I think the Coens suggest him via negativa. They show the incompleteness and insufficiency of a vision that leaves God out. There are clearly human evils at work —evils of foolishness, carelessness, folly, and evils of greed and deliberate violence. But there are also evils of apocalyptic, seemingly supernatural proportions. As No Country demonstrates, good deeds and the power of law are not enough to save the world. Ultimately, the best we can do is seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in the presence of something greater than ourselves.

Continue reading →